Publisher’s description Bugs, of all kinds, were considered to be “born of mud” and to be “beasts of the devil.” Why would anyone, let alone a girl, want to study and observe them? One of the first naturalists to observe live insects directly, Maria Sibylla Merian was also one of the first to document the […]

We’re seeing a bounty of cool design tools these days. In our correspondence, our promotional materials, our business cards, we can use these tools for our own purposes, to brand ourselves as professionals and to share our libraries in a more cohesive and polished way. These can also be used by our clubs, business and design […]

You may remember Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) for its groundbreaking and utterly depressing report, Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Online Civic Reasoning. In the November 2016 Executive Summary, the researchers shared: When thousands of students respond to dozens of tasks there are endless variations. That was certainly the case in our experience. However, at each level—middle […]

The Harlem Charade Written by Natasha Tarpley Published by Scholastic, 2017 ISBN #978-0-545-78387-3 Grades 3 and up Book Review Art, adventure, and activism are at the center of The Harlem Charade, Natasha Tarpley’s novel about three very different seventh graders who unite to solve a series of mysteries in their own backyard […]

I’ve been calling this post “double life/art ladies,” which doesn’t quite flow off the tongue as a post title, but does hint at what these two have in common — two intense teenage girls who prefer a hidden or secret life so that they can make their art. And both of these titles have a […]

Publisher’s description A gorgeous and emotionally resonant debut novel about a half-Japanese teen who grapples with social anxiety and her narcissist mother in the wake of a crushing rejection from art school. Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a […]

What Auto-Tune does for singers, Google’s AutoDraw AI experiment now does for those of us with limited visual talent. I’ve just discovered this handy tool and considering its power in demonstrating AI, as well as its affordances for so many everyday tasks. AutoDraw got its start as Quick Draw a Google game/experiment in which when you drew on your […]

Winner of the 2017 Caldecott Award Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat Written and Illustrated by Javaka Steptoe Published in 2016 by Little Brown ISBN 978-0-316-21388-2 Grades PreK – Grade 12 Book Review “Somewhere in Brooklyn, between hearts that thump, double Dutch, and hopscotch and salty mouths that slurp sweet ice, […]

Oh, A.S. King! Every year, a new novel. Every year, a bold move to expand what we think of as a novel. I’m not sure if I’m a King fan, but I find myself drawn to her books year after year because I trust them to be engrossing reading experiences, even if I have an […]

The Night Gardener Written and Illustrated by Terry and Eric Fan Published in 2016 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers ISBN 978-1-4814-3978-7 2017 Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children Honor Book Book Review Grimloch Lane lives up to its name. The houses that line it are unkempt and the people who […]

I’m going to cheat a little today, and deviate from our attempts to review in roughly calendar order. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about middle grade and YA and all ages and the fine line between the Newbery and the Printz. We’ve had books on all ends snag awards, yes, but […]

“You don’t have to be an art teacher to include the arts in your classroom or to encourage children to think about the arts.” Emily Valenza believes there are many engaging ways all educators can make thinking visible, rethink assessment and critique, and make critical connections across artificial disciplinary boundaries. I am pretty darn excited […]

Thanks to Penguin generously donating some ARCs for Kirstin’s recent visit to my library, I have two extra to raffle off. You can enter via the Rafflecopter, by (re)tweeting this review, or by following me on Twitter (@CiteSomething). Contest runs 4/19 to 4/21. US entries only, please. Publisher’s description In this Banksy-inspired illustrated novel, an escalating […]